Over the past 50 years, explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of certain aspects of identity, such as gender, race, and religion, have become increasingly common in constitutions worldwide. Today, 85% of constitutions explicitly prohibit gender discrimination, compared to just 50% of those adopted before 1960. Yet far fewer include language guaranteeing equal rights...
Tag: <span>Jody Heymann</span>
Equal Rights on the Basis of Disability in 193 Constitutions: Movements, Language, and Paths Forward
Nearly 15% of the global population, or one billion people, have some form of disability. However, direct discrimination on the basis of disability remains widespread, while people with disabilities experience among the highest rates of implicit bias. With the advent of the global disability rights movement and the adoption of the CRPD, the share of...
Quantitative Measures of Equal Rights in Constitutions: Methods and Key Findings
Quantitative measures of constitutional rights enable rapid comparisons of the quality of rights across countries for different aspects of identity. We have constructed an original database of 50 specific civil, political, social, economic, and equal constitutional rights across 14 aspects of identity for 193 countries. We find that fewer constitutions guarantee equal rights for persons...
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in 193 Constitutions: Progress and Retrenchment on Equal Rights
Recent years have witnessed a wave of progress on equal rights on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) in the courts and legislatures. Twenty-two countries now permit same-sex marriage, while 72 prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian employees. At the same time, 71 countries still criminalize same-sex relationships , including some countries...